accarezzevole
by Lady StarFlower
Summary: Felix snaps the piano lid shut with a little too much force. "What's the point?" He mutters, turning on his heel. "No one's going to be playing it anyway." Or; Annette finds the Fraldarius heirloom piano and Felix learns to embrace his past. Felix/Annette, post canon. Established Relationship. Request fic for @mewsers on twitter! For felannie week 2k19, Day 5: Music


**A/N: Kroissant graciously allowed me to take over her requests from Twitter for felannie prompts, and I kind of butchered my first request, sorry :'(**

**The request from mewsers is as follows: "felix wanting to learn an instrument so he can compliment annette's singing! whether he succeeds or not is up to you!"**

**I hope you still enjoy it! This was also for Day 5: Music for felannie week, since I am way too much of a multitasker and I jumped at the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.**

**Enjoy!**

O.O

They find the piano in one of the back rooms.

It's a little worn, a little scuffed around the edges, and incredibly out of tune, but the heirloom grand piano is, miraculously, still in one piece. Felix could see his own reflection in the dull shine of its surface.

"Your father had this put away when the war started." The servant speaking is a wiry older man who has been leading their staff for decades. He touches the ebony surface of the piano with reverence.

"Almost all of the other valuables had been sold for the war effort, but he insisted on keeping this piano. 'Too many memories', he said."

The servant chuckles softly before bowing his head. "Would you like for us to have it restored, my lord?"

Felix scoffs quietly, touching the dust mottled keys. "The old man was always too sentimental for his own good." The piano jangles brightly in the close air of the storeroom, flat and discordant.

"We can have it tuned and ready to play in a matter of weeks, my lord." The servant suggests quietly.

Felix snaps the lid shut with a little too much force. "What's the point?" He mutters, turning on his heel. "No one's going to be playing it anyway."

"My lord—"

"Do as you like." Duke Fraldarius leaves the storeroom with quick, agitated steps. "I have more pressing matters to attend to than that old instrument."

O.O

"_Glenn! Glenn! What are you doing?"_

"_What does it look like I'm doing? I'm slaving away at this thing again, ugh. This is a waste of time."_

"_You sound really nice though! Father says that you're a natural at the piano, and I think so too!"_

"_Father can eat my sheet music. He's paying way too much for all those no-good, stuck-up tutors that keep drilling the same pieces and scales into my head over and over again. It's so mind-numbing."_

"_But…Glenn, you're so talented! I can't ever get my music to sound any good, but you sound like a real expert! Teach me some cool tricks, please, Glenn? Pleaaaaaase?"_

"_Heh, look at you. Who can say no to that face? …Alright, up you go."_

"_W-Wah!"_

"_Oh, come on. I'm just picking you up. Don't be a baby. Here, you comfortable?"_

"_Mmm-hmm. What are you doing?"_

"_Teaching you some basics, 'kay? I'm bored and aching for something to do besides these dull drills. Here, put your hand on the keys, and I'll show you some basics."_

"_Okay! …Wow, Glenn, your hands are so much bigger than mine."_

"_Well of course. I'm older than you, so I grow faster. These long fingers can really reach a lot of keys at once."_

"_Will mine ever be that big?"_

"_Nope. You're going to stay a little squirt as I tower over you from above."_

"_G-Glenn!"_

"_Heh. Just teasing you. Let's keep this a secret from the old man, alright? Now, I'm going to show you some chords you can practice. Pay attention, now!"_

O.O

Felix wakes up with a sudden start. The faint sounds of a faraway piano, played by a pair of small hesitant hands, could still be heard from the vestiges of his dream. But in the echoing silence of his bedroom, he's alone.

The young duke puts his head in his hands, breathing out shakily. He could still remember Glenn's cocky smile, his fierce eyes, and the breadth of his hands as he corrected his younger brother's fingers on the keys with rough kindness.

The dream had brought it all back; the tempered steel of discipline underneath his brother's outward display of recklessness, and the roaring fire of exemplary knighthood that had been winked out on that cursed day of the Tragedy.

Felix falls back onto his pillow, scowling at the canopy of the huge four poster bed that had been a name day gift from some absurdly rich dignitary trying to endear himself to the new duke. It's a definite improvement from the damp sleeping rolls they used in the war, but it feels wrong. His new title…his new duties….it's all wrong.

Goddess, he can still hear that damned piano.

He rolls over agitatedly, reaching for the warmth that would always soothe his frazzled nerves without fail. But tonight his hands find nothing but empty blankets and a bare pillow. The sheets are cold.

Felix sits up. It's not like Annette to be out of bed for this long at this time of night. With her duties as Duchess Fraldarius (they're both still unused to that new title; it takes the servants two or three times to get her attention), she's usually so busy with the postwar efforts that by the time they both fall into bed at the end of the day, she's asleep in a matter of minutes.

Annette still mumbles a sleepy "love you" into his chest though, somehow making even those two words just as endearing as the rest of her. He's often just as exhausted as she is, but would respond with a tired kiss to her temple before they fall asleep together. It does much to keep the dreams at bay.

But where is she tonight? And how can that piano still be playing? Gritting his teeth, Felix tosses the blankets aside and grabs a dressing robe and, on second thought, the sword leaning against the bedframe. It won't be likely that he'll actually have to use it, but if it's some go-lucky servant thinking that the Fraldarius heirloom piano is something to be trifled with, he can at least use it to scare the bastard off.

The piano's soft tinkling notes guides him through the torch-lit hallways, lined with the effigies of statues watching his movements with sightless eyes. The few guards on patrol snap to attention when he strides past, murmuring a respectful "My lord" or "Duke Fraldarius, sir" as he passes by. He nods distractedly at them.

It's a dark night to be out, and the soft piano only adds to the eeriness of the moonless night. His footsteps, though not exactly loud, echo on the stone walk, and the resounding deep thuds hum through the halls like a muted drum. Felix isn't a superstitious man, but even he can't help the goosebumps that rise along his arms.

He reaches the parlor doors. They're slightly ajar, and a bit of rosy candlelight spills out from the crack between the doors. Someone is still playing the piano.

Felix pushes the doors open, and the sight that greets him takes his breath away.

Annette is sitting at the piano bench, her hair spilling over her shoulders as she painstakingly plucks out a hesitant melody with her fingers, leaning over the keys with a frown of concentration on her face. The white of her nightgown under her robe makes her glow in the candlelight, and the soft music that floats from her mouth is different than the usual cheery melodies that he's heard her sing before.

There's no words to this song, just an aimless sort of humming that's quite pretty to listen to. He listens to her, his eyes closing on instinct, and suddenly the moonless night seems much less darker than it was before.

The moment's broken when Annette hits the wrong note and grumbles softly in dismay to herself. She sighs and leans back, rubbing at her temples. She catches sight of him at the door and nearly jumps off the seat. "BAH! Felix, you scared me half to death!"

"Sorry." Felix walks over and peers over her shoulder to look at her notes. "What are you up to this late?"

"Oh uh…" Annette fidgets and looks away, her ears pink. "I wanted to try something new for my songs…so I thought of the piano…I thought it would be fun to try at least! I figured out some notes all by myself!

"Here, watch." She pats the seat next to her and as always Felix obeys her unspoken command, setting aside his sword and sitting down as Annette carefully begins pressing down on the keys. She plucks out a clever little melody, playful with just a bite of cockiness, and for some reason it reminds him of Glenn's laugh.

"It's good." Felix tells her softly, truthfully, and Annette smiles wide, her face turning red as she snuggles close to his side. "Aw, thanks. I'm not anywhere near professional at all though…I really wish I actually knew how to play."

_Father says that you're a natural at the piano, and I think so too!_

"Glenn was talented at the piano." He finds himself blurting out. Annette blinks and looks up at him, her eyes cautiously curious.

"He tried to teach me some pointers but I wasn't as good at it as he was. It was on this piano too." Felix touches the keys with a bitter sort of nostalgia. "Then again, he never was around to teach me later anyway."

Annette strokes his shoulder. "I'm sorry. Is that why you had this piano buried in a forgotten parlor in the castle?"

"Mmm."

"Felix…" Her voice is sad, and without her usual earnest cheer, Annette sounds pale and colorless. It always pains him to hear her this way, and it reminds him too much of their war days, when an innocent smile was hard to find amongst the bloodshed, amongst the fury of battle and the despair of death.

Dammit. Glenn would've wanted to see them smiling. Father would've wanted to see them smiling. What else were they fighting for all those years ago? Didn't they fight for a better world, one that was far less messed up than before?

_Glenn…_

Felix reaches out to the piano like it has teeth, but when he spreads his fingers and plays a cautious chord, Annette's mouth drops open and she looks star-struck. Encouraged by her response, he uses his other hand to buoy that chord, and by the time he finishes a simple major scale run, Annette looks _transported_.

"Felix, that was beautiful." She breathes. "You're amazing! How have you been hiding this from me all this time?"

"You never asked." He replies simply, a little amused and more than a little embarrassed at her starry-eyed admiration. "And I never had the courage or the time to revisit it."

Until now.

"You need to teach me! Or play for me! I could actually have the courage to sing in public with you beside me!" Annette catches his hand in hers and widens her shiny blue eyes at him in a pleading expression that she knew he was powerless against. "Please, love? Pretty please? Pleeeeeeease?"

He could almost hear Glenn cackling behind him, leaning against the piano with his trademark smirk. _Heh, look at her. You couldn't say no to that face, couldn't you, Little Brother?_

Felix sighs a little, but he relents under Annette's pleading gaze like snow in the sun. He's always susceptible to her charms; always have been since they were classmates together.

He brings her hand up to kiss her knuckles. "Of course."

Annette beams, and even in the dark of the candlelit parlor, she's brighter than the sun. He loves her so deeply; it aches.

Felix takes her hand and spreads them on the keys of the piano. "Now, I'm going to show you some chords you can practice. Pay attention, alright?"

They practice together until the sun rises.

.

.

_fin_

**A/N: they took the next day off to sleep in**

**accarezzevole: a music term that means "expressive and caressing".**

**Thank you for reading!**


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